Audiological Assessment in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

COPD is a common preventable and treatable disease, is characterized by persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an enhanced chronic inflammatory response in the airway and lung to noxious particles or gases Worldwide, the most commonly encountered risk factor for COPD is tobacco smoking . (GOLD, 2015). Cigarette smoking has become a common tendency worldwide. In general, tobacco is consumed by approximately 1.3 billion of the world’s population (Shafey et al .,2003). . Many of the health effects of smoking depend on the exposure history, which includes the age at which the smoking began, the number of cigarettes which were smoked per day, the degree of inhalation, and the cigarette characteristics such as the tar and the nicotine content (Peto ,1986).. Smoking has been associated with its effect on the senses, which includes the sense of hearing( Cruickshankset al ., 2003). This study was conducted upon 100 randomly selected male patients with COPD either attending the Chest outpatient clinic or those admitted to the Chest Department at Ain Shams University Hospitals. COPD was diagnosed according to GOLD 2015

The following results were obtained:: 1) There was highly significant statistical difference between COPD group and control group as regards different audiometry frequencies tones .

2) There was highly significant statistical difference between COPD patients group and control group as regards both low frequency and high frequency audiogram results.

3) Audiogram results in COPD patients group were 96% sensitivity and 100 % specificity.

4) There are highly significant statistical difference in different smoking status as regards FEV1 and PO2 on RA.

5) There was non significant statistical difference between different smoking status as regards results of audiogram and tympanometry.

6) There was positive correlation between smoking index and audiometry results in low frequency tone while non significant correlation between smoking index and audiometry results in high frequency tones.

7) There was non significant statistical difference between smoking index as regards type A and type C tympanometry .

8) There was non significant statistical correlation between duration of smoking and audiometry results in low and high frequencies.

9) There was no significant difference in tympanometry results as regards duration of smoking among COPD group.

10) There was non significant correlations between BMI and audiometry resultsin low and high frequencies.

11) There was no significant difference between Tympanometry results and BMI in COPD group.

12) There was non significant correlation between type of smoking and audiometry results in low and high frequencies.

13) There was non significant difference between smoking status and tympanometry results.

14) There was high significant negative statistical correlation between both low and high frequency tones and FEV1 as well as PO2 on room air while there was significant positive statistical correlation between both low and high frequency tones and exacerbation /year .

15) There was highly significant difference between tympanometry results as regards FEV1,PO2 on RA and exacerbations/year while non significant difference between tympanometry results as regards age and FEV1/FVC.